Archive for June, 2009

The Stanley Cup could be won tonight and 5-6000 or more people will NOT be making the trip to Joe Louis arena to see the Cup be won at Joe Louis Arena. This is terrible for many reasons.

I had never been to a Joe Vision before last year when they won the Cup in six and I was working section 221 or so. This is a big disaster for NBC for multiple reasons. I am an usher at the Arena, passionate fan, and well love the business of sports. Consider me, as a small bridge builder between what the fan wants and needs and what my passion is.

The arena staffs are looking for one last chance to work. This brings them money and access to merchandise. I would NOT have bought as much Red Wings stuff as I did last year had I NOT had access to the merchandise. The team wins and the league wins by having this.

When you have happy fans coming into the City for a game. This brings money into the City which may not have been there had they not had Joe Vision. They also are die hard fans so with this the merchandise sales will go up with the instant access to the Red Wings stuff. The team gets the money back on paying for the arena staff and the fans get merchandise too. Plus, charities win by having the extra day of an event.

NBC’s stance on NOT having a viewing party for fans is ridiculous. They act like they are the Kings of the castle. Well their castle looks to be made out of sand. They do not play the entire NHL season and they cut in for the Finals and think they are able to man handle everyone.

This is NOT only terrible PR but it is terrible for the fans they have. NHL isn’t the NFL. They don’t have a huge audience but they have dedicated regional fans who are being alienated.

Versus which is a station no one can find. Let’s everyone see the games and they allowed Mellon Arena to play the games. They have a different production contract then NBC which is ratings based. People are going to party and when push comes to shove the die hard fans which are being alienated at this point. Fans are not going to turn on NBC when they have an option to turn on CBC. The Canadian Broadcasting Company is better then NBC could ever be.

CBC is king in Detroit. They have a better production staff and they know what they are doing. The announcers know what they are doing and who the players are.

NBC can’t grow the sport until they have an announcing team which actually knows players names and numbers. This is something which is easily done by studying the media guide before you go on the air. They constantly screw things up.

This is the BIGGEST PR disaster and show of greed which really hurts and shows a true sign of arrogance. Needless to say, in business, your product the only person who cares about it is YOU. At the end of the day, would you rather have two cities that love and adore you and are passionate about the game or two major cities which don’t want anything to do with you and would rather turn you off?

I would take the the first choice. To grow a game you have to be serious about it. With out a serious effort the NHL will be ranked lower then horse racing or tennis.